Random Encounters
by AccordingToMel
Summary: One carnival. One night. Four people. What are the odds?


**Title**: Random Encounters

**Author**: AccordingToMel

**Summary**: One carnival. One night. Four people. What are the odds?

**Rating**: T (PG-13)

**Spoilers**: None

**Word Count**: 2,133

**Disclaimer**: Yeah, I don't think so. I could only wish to own something as fun as this show.

**Author's note**: Once again this is not what I was supposed to be writing, but I just couldn't help myself. I'm actually quite happy with how this thing came out. It's mostly fluff, but it was a lot of fun to write! Constructive criticism is always welcome to help me improve. Also, I'd like to dedicate this one to the lovely themirrorofsin (Lina) for encouraging my crazy addictions and for unintentionally inspiring this fic. Enjoy!

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**Random Encounters**

Jack Hodgins walks slowly through the swarms of people buzzing around him. There are many couples walking around and holding hands, some children with their parents, and a lot of teenagers. But he supposes this is pretty normal for an evening at the local carnival. Hodgins, for all his cynicism and conspiracy theories, has always had a soft spot for the fair. His mom used to take him to their neighbourhood carnival every year when it rolled into town, and for some reason the desire has never quite left him.

Hodgins is standing off to the side, watching one of the carnies try and gather up people to play a game, when he sees a familiar face walk right past him.

"Dr. Brennan?" he calls out, voice laced with obvious confusion and surprise.

Brennan stops dead in her tracks and whirls around to face Hodgins, clear surprise written across her features as well. "Hodgins?" Brennan asks, walking up to him.

"One and the same," Hodgins returns with a smile. "What on earth are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she responds, smiling.

"Honestly? I used to go to these things all the time as a kid. For some odd reason I find them very relaxing," he admits, feeling somewhat sheepish, though he's not entirely sure why. There's nothing wrong with a grown man enjoying a local carnival, he reminds himself.

Brennan studies him for a moment in contemplative silence. "That seems kind of strange, don't you think?"

"Not until you said it does," Hodgins says with a sigh. But really, it _is_ Dr. Brennan, and she's not exactly the best judge of what is or isn't normal.

She is about to speak again when another voice interrupts the conversation. "Bones? Hodgins? What the hell are you guys doing here?"

Brennan and Hodgins both turn to see Booth walking up to them. He's not wearing his usual suit, so Hodgins figures he must not be working. He looks as shocked to see them as they are to see him.

Brennan is the first to respond. "Well, Hodgins is here because he says he finds the carnival to be a soothing environment."

"That's not quite what I said," Hodgins interjects, but neither one of them are listening to him.

"And I'm here because I wanted to observe human behaviour as part of an anthropological study on the influence and rituals of individuals in counter cultural environments that are often rejected by the mainstream culture. Carnivals, and the nomadic existence of the carnival workers in specific, are just one such example," she explains as if it's the most natural, normal thing on earth.

Booth raises both eyebrows and shoots her an incredulous look. "I'm sure I don't want to know."

"It's actually quite fascinating. You might be interested," she tells him with a smile.

"No, I don't think so," Booth readily admits, and Hodgins can't help but laugh.

"So what about you?" he asks, directing the question at Booth. "Why are you here?"

"Isn't it obvious? I had Parker. Just dropped him off with Rebecca when I saw you two chatting out here," Booth says in a tone that implies that his reason is so obvious that it doesn't require explanation.

"Seeley?!"

Once again all three heads turn, this time to see Cam coming up behind Booth. She looks at him and then notices Hodgins and Brennan too. "Wait, you three are all here? What is this – a late night party that I wasn't invited to?"

Booth shakes his head. "No, not at all."

"Yeah," Hodgins interjects. "We're all here on our own. It's kind of crazy that we all ended up running into one another." Booth and Brennan both nod in response to the comment.

"You don't say," Cam says, moving her gaze from person to person. "So why are you guys all here?"

"Hodgins gets his jollies from carnivals," Booth says, and Hodgins immediately shoots him a glare.

"That is not even close to what I originally said," he scoffs in mock annoyance.

Booth carries on, completely ignoring Hodgins' outburst. "I was here with Parker. And Bones over here-"

"-is conducting an anthropological-"

"-thing that doesn't need to be elaborated on," Booth finishes, grinning at his success in preventing Brennan from expanding once again about her study. Brennan shoots him a nasty look but doesn't say anything further.

"So why are you here?" Hodgins asks Cam.

Cam just smiles and holds up a small white bag that looks like it's mostly empty.

"What's that?" Brennan asks, pointing towards the bag.

"They're mini donuts, Bones," Booth shares, smiling whimsically to himself. "The best part about all carnivals. I didn't know you liked them that much," he says to Cam.

She nods and swallows. "I've always loved them. But we never went to any carnivals when we dated, so how would you know that?" Booth shrugs in response, acquiescing that she was right about that.

"Let me guess – they're called 'mini donuts' because they're smaller in size then regular donuts, right?" Brennan asks, and no one is entirely sure if she's been serious or facetious. "That's original."

Cam just shakes her head and chuckles. "You need to learn to lighten up a bit, Dr. Brennan," she tells the woman, holding the nearly empty bag out to her. "Try one."

Brennan hesitates for a moment before finally giving in and taking one of the donuts. Cam offers the rest of the bag to Booth and Hodgins, who gratefully accept.

"Not bad," Brennan admits once she finishes swallowing.

"What did I tell you?" Booth says, nudging Brennan lightly in the ribs.

"There you go," Cam tells her with a smile. "Anyway, as much as I enjoy standing around eating donuts with my colleagues, there's a bottle of wine and a hot bath waiting for me at home. So have a nice evening everyone."

"Yeah, I should probably get going too," Hodgins admits. "See you guys at work on Monday," he says, and takes off in the same direction as Cam, leaving Booth and Brennan in their wake.

*****

Booth watches as Hodgins and Cam walk away, tapping his foot impatiently on the ground and darting his eyes back and forth between the two.

Once he is satisfied that they are far enough away, he turns to Brennan and shoots her one of his patented charm smiles. "Do you think they knew?"

Brennan quirks a brow. "Knew what? That we were on a date?" she asks.

"Bones!" Booth cries out, reaching up instinctively to cover her mouth with his hand. "Don't talk so loudly. They could still hear you."

Brennan slaps his hand away and rolls her eyes. "Oh please Booth. They're at least 50 feet away. Besides, we're at a noisy carnival. I can barely hear you over the sounds of the rides and the vendors and the people."

"Cam has excellent hearing," Booth responds lamely, looking around suspiciously.

Brennan throws up her hands and shakes her head. "That's the best you can come up with? We're on a date. What's the big deal?"

"The big deal," Booth begins, grabbing hold of Brennan's arm and leading her gently in the opposite direction that Cam and Hodgins were headed, "is that we haven't told anyone yet and…"

"Are you embarrassed to be with me?"

Booth falters, stopping dead in his tracks. "What? No, no, no. Of course not Bones. Of course not. Why would you say that?"

Brennan shrugs. "Well then why are you so concerned about what Hodgins and Cam think about us?"

"I'm not. I just-"

"Don't want them to know about us?"

"Yes! I mean, no. I mean I want them to know," Booth says, still holding onto her arm. He loosens his grip slightly as his other hand finds Brennan's opposite arm. "Just…not in this way."

"We've been together for almost three weeks now Booth. What 'way' is the right way to tell them?" She's giving him one of her patented I-am-not-impressed looks.

"We'll do it soon. It just has to be the right time and the right circumstances. But I'm not ashamed," Booth assures, running gentle circles across her arms with the pads of his thumbs.

She looks up at him with a confused expression. "I don't understand," she finally admits.

Booth sighs, running his hands down her arms until he's grasping both of her hands in his. "I know. Just trust me on this one Bones? Please?"

Brennan stares into his eyes, seeing the genuine plea there, and she knows that she can't resist him, as much as she might try. "All right," she concedes with a smile. "But on one condition."

Booth grins, resting his forehead against hers for a brief moment. "What's that?"

"That we get this date started finally," she says, pulling back to smile up at him.

"We can most definitely do that Bones," Booth tells her, leaning down to capture her mouth in his. His hands instinctively reach around to pull her close to him, as Brennan's hands grasp at his shirt. After a moment, their mutual need for air pulls them from the kiss. Booth places one final kiss on the top of Brennan's head before grabbing her hand and pulling her towards one of the rides.

*****

"So that was pretty weird, wasn't it?" Hodgins remarks as he and Cam are walking away.

She glances up at him. "You mean that all four of us happened to be here at the same time?"

He nods in response. "Yeah, kinda weird," she agrees.

"I wonder what they were doing out here?" Hodgins comments again a few moments later.

Cam laughs. "I'm sure exactly what they said they were doing out here."

"Right. Like you and I."

She tosses him another sideways glance, this time with a raised eyebrow. "Right."

They continue to walk in silence for a few more moments, until Hodgins feels a hand slip into his. He looks down at Cam but doesn't break stride. "Do you think they know?" she asks him.

"About you and me?" Hodgins asks with a suggestive smile.

"Yes about you and me," Cam states as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. It kind of is.

"No way, baby. We're too good at deception," Hodgins says with a grin, entwining their fingers and pulling Cam closer to him.

"Yeah, but how do you know they believed our stories?"

"Because they were totally solid, man. Perfectly legitimate excuses," Hodgins says with a grin, sweeping his free hand out in front of him in some sort of explanatory gesture.

Cam shrugs, uncertainty written across her features. "'I don't know. Booth looked kind of suspicious."

Hodgins stops walking and turns to face Cam directly. "You're starting to sound like me with the whole paranoia thing," Hodgins shares, grinning from ear to ear.

"I wouldn't go so far as to call it paranoia. I would say I'm just overly cautious," Cam tells him, unable to hold the smile back.

"Paranoia is as paranoia does, baby," Hodgins winks. Cam just rolls her eyes and looks away from him.

"You know, you're pretty hot when you're paranoid," Hodgins tells Cam, pulling her body flush against his and bringing one hand up to cup the side of her face.

"I think I can safely say that's the first time anyone has ever said that to me," Cam shares with a chuckle, reaching up and planting a soft kiss on his lips.

"Well it won't be the last time," Hodgins informs his date, leaning in for another kiss. This time he attacks her lips with more intensity and passion. When they finally break for air, Hodgins runs his fingers through her hair and starts to kiss her jaw line, slowly moving to the nape of her neck.

"Watch it buster," Cam warns with a sly smile. "We're still in public."

"That can easily be rectified," Hodgins whispers as he continues to gently press kisses down her neck.

Cam closes her eyes briefly, stroking the side of Hodgins' face, before lighting pressing on his chest with her other hand. Hodgins pulls back momentarily to look into her eyes. "Okay, then let's rectify the situation. Last thing we need is to be arrested for indecent exposure in public. That wouldn't exactly be conducive to keeping this thing under wraps," Cam suggests with a smirk.

Hodgins laughs out loud and nods. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I'll meet you at my place?"

Cam nods and beams at him. "The carnival is so overrated anyway," she says.

"Oh you have no idea," Hodgins tells her with a mischievous smirk, kissing her once more before pulling away and heading back to his car. Cam is not far behind.


End file.
